At Last, Here
by Emina Irah
Summary: The end of a war doesn't mean a new beginning. -written for SasuSaku Promts Challenge.


**Author's Note: **Thanks to a certain someone, I found the SasuSaku Prompts community on livejournal. If you haven't checked it out you should! This was written for the seven heavenly virtues challenge. It's post cannon. The war ended a few years before the story. I'm not sure if I'll leave this as a stand alone or write something for the seven challenges. For my own peace of mind, I'll mark it as _complete. _Also, I wrote this piece in Spanish as well, which [surprisingly] helped a lot to finish it.

* * *

_Charity_

* * *

It was dark, pitch black. The sky was clear but there was no moon. It was only their senses that had allowed them to continue on their journey through the night. They hadn't rested since earlier in the afternoon. As they passed the gates and walked into the village, lamp posts illuminated their way. Still, the streets were deserted. Flanking their path, some of the houses were in ruins, other in the process of reconstruction. And then, there were many new buildings. There were a few places still standing that the last sharingan user recognized. Even more, his muddled mind recalled some names on the new structures.

To his left, the copy ninja grunted and shuffled –in the act of rearranging him, rather unnecessarily- hurting the already wounded Uchiha in the process. No apology was forthcoming, not that the young man expected one. The only sound to leave his mouth was the instinctive groan that he didn't manage to hold back in time. Otherwise, on the patrician lines of his face, the glacial pride of his bottomless eyes, no emotion was revealed.

To his right, holding him up –the Uchiha's arm over the idiot's shoulders- was the forever flamboyant, and promise keeper future Hokage, a silly grin battling [and somewhat winning] against exhaustion. He was half dragging him, half helping him up. So was his former instructor, holding him up on his other side.

Neither had spoken since they'd _officially_ _captured_ him.

Both former teammates had battle, exchanged words –and nondescript grunts- and beaten each other to a bloody pulp before their [ex-] teacher had found them, half dead, in the middle of the forest.

Sasuke was aware that they [the idiot, the copy ninja, and the ex-root] had been on an S-mission. He even had a good idea what it had been about. Had suspected that someone from Konoha would be making an appearance sooner or later to the village he'd been passing through. Yet, he had stayed an unnecessary extra night at the local inn. He hadn't considered the implications of staying too long, or taking this or that path on his way out of the village. He simply hadn't thought. The reasons behind those hesitating extra minutes when he'd recognized the chakra signatures, hadn't been analyzed either.

Now bumping into someone who once-upon-a-time had been his worst/best rival hadn't been something he'd meant to happen. Of that, he was certain.

Halfway through the village, with a half mind, he allowed –not really but he could hardly stop himself given the half-efficient state of his mind- to evaluate his _motivations_. After some half-hearted deliberation he came to one conclusion. He had been curious to see a particular ninja, one that hadn't shown up. Yes, this he would admit to himself. As he went over any other possible reason, the one conclusion was unrelenting. So that was that.

Moving on, he had to consider his next line of action. He needed to find a way out of the village. Escape. He was either being led toward the cells, or he'd be taken to the hospital. The last Uchiha was confident enough in his ability to escape from either situation.

A sudden movement brought him out of his reverie. He was mildly surprised to realize they were no longer out on the street. They were in a pristine white room. He tried recognizing his surroundings to no avail. His mind was more and more vague, and the brightness of the room didn't aid his condition. Another jerk, this time he attributed to somewhere to his right, had him sitting on a bench still half supported by the senior ninja.

A nurse, or what Sasuke assumed to be one, was giving instructions to the idiot. The blonde already looked in better condition than the Uchiha, but Sasuke was fully aware of the Kyuubi's rapid healing. Still, the blonde looked a little the worse for wear.

After some protests from the blonde, he disappeared behind an unremarkable door down the hall. It was silent in the room in their wake. Once propped against the wall behind him, Sasuke continued to think –as much as he could between conscious and unconsciousness.

He devised a handful of strategies in order to escape, one for any other case scenario. In case he didn't manage to get out of the hospital –he was now certain that's where they were- before he was transferred to the cells, he knew what he'd do. He'd planned out enough escape routes that would have him on his way come tomorrow…

He must have dozed out for a while, but he couldn't be sure. He was only aware of a pair of eyes staring at him. Uninterested, he looked up in the general direction of the offending individual. It was the blonde idiot, looking for all he was worth as if he'd only been out on stroll. His face was unblemished, no bruising around his left eye, no broken nose, no nothing. He contemplated for a moment that he might have fallen asleep for longer that he would have thought –there was no way he'd consider he had fainted. Then he realized that someone must have healed him.

A cursory glance around the white, white room brought him up with only one other person in the room; a young woman behind a desk that kept sending veiled stares his way, and no Copy Ninja.

The idiot was still staring at him. Perched against the opposite wall, there was nothing to divert the blonde's attention. The Uchiha stared back. The man before him was a stranger, no longer was the silly grin he'd sported before, or the steely determination when they had first seen each other earlier in the day –or was it yesterday? The expression on his face was penetrating, solemn, searching for answers to questions he'd never voice. Sasuke closed his eyes to the seriously disturbing sight.

He reflected on the third member of the team, the one that had replaced him, the ex-root. He'd been gravely injured in the mission, nothing to do with the Uchiha. With the help of a local ninja, Kakashi had taken the man into safety, Sasuke wasn't entirely sure, he guess he'd sent the man towards Konoha. Then the older man had gone back and found the half dead bodies of his former disciples.

He opened his eyes again when he became aware of his former teacher's presence back in the room. That Sasuke was aware, he hadn't been injured during or after the mission, not anything of relevance at least, but still, he was coming out of the same room Naruto had entered moments –Sasuke used the word rather loosely- before.

And behind him, walked the rosette.

They were in deep conversation as they headed in his general direction. "Yeah," the young doctor mumbled and nodded, and after a pause, "his stable now." Concern tainted her tone.

The copy ninja said something that had the young woman stopping halfway through her next step. She turned fulminating eyes towards their former teacher before, somewhat indignantly, fist fisted and head held high, she resumed her step heading towards Sasuke and the idiot.

She'd grown up, filled here and there, was taller, had changed. But her hair was still the same baby-pink color he remembered –it was still short- her eyes –ones that wouldn't look straight at him- were the same apple-green color reminiscent of his childhood. He has thankful for these small mercies. The last Uchiha hadn't been a prodigy for nothing, and he was well aware that things had changed, that nothing had stayed as he had left them. That the woman walking towards them with a confident, quite proud gait was not the same girl that once-upon-a-time had professed undying love.

A few steps from them, the rosette stopped, exchanged meaningful looks with the idiot for a little too long and bestowed him with a small smile, only after this did she grace the Uchiha with her undivided attention. She examined him with a clinical eye, filing every visible injury to her memory bank.

She motioned for him to move and it was Naruto and Kakashi who helped him up and followed her. She ushered them out once Sasuke was settled. It was a different room then the one the other two had used. But Sasuke didn't pay any attention to the room.

With a heavy sigh she began treating him.

Sasuke studied her, silently and _perhaps_ broodingly. Once on his own feet he had realized that she wasn't as tall as he had first thought, he was probably a good foot taller. The rosette was petite as well; her skilled hands dainty. The pale skin tone had him wondering if she ever stayed out in the sun long enough to matter. There were slight –barely noticeable- bags under her eyes, but nothing serious. Her expression, much like the idiot's, was solemn as she fixed him.

She only touched him where necessary. She only looked where necessary. She only spoke if necessary.

_She healed her team first_, Sasuke thought. He even went as far as to believe that she probably had been the one to treat the ex-root. He stared at her some more, unnervingly, unwaveringly. She didn't seem to notice. She continued her efficient movements, effortless and economical.

With the oddly familiar scent of grapefruits and cherries enveloping him, Uchiha Sasuke considered her charity. How much would it cost him more of her generosity? Staying in Konoha didn't seem like such a high price…

She was giving him some more instructions and moving away from him. Heading towards a sink in a corner of the room, she washed her hands with professional detachment, still talking.

Without thought, he slid off the stretcher, walked the few steps separating them, and wrapped both arms around the rosette's midriff. He buried his nose where neck met shoulder, nuzzled there, moving the hair out of his way. Leaving butterfly kisses on the soft skin, he wondered if this was the closest he would ever be to heaven.

"Welcome home." Sakura said in a shaky breath.


End file.
